Since 2008, the restaurant industry has faced falling sales, rising ingredient prices and a frugal dining public.It seems 2013 is going to mean more of the same for the industry, along with some new worries, although central Ohio restaurateurs overall seem cautiously optimistic.

First, the old worries. “Restaurants have been suffering for so many years,” said restaurant consultant Bob Welcher. “Check averages have decreased. People are spending less. Restaurant owners aren’t so optimistic about sales growth.”

The industry overall is “stable but not growing,” said Bonnie Riggs, restaurant-industry analyst with the NPD Group. “The current economic environment and consumer mindset may be longer-term than we first thought, and the industry will have to adjust accordingly.”

Then there are the new worries, mostly from Washington, in the form of fallout from “fiscal cliff” negotiations and yet-to-come guidance on implementing provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

“We don’t know what the tax rules or health-care rules are going to be, and it makes us nervous,” said Rick Malir, owner of City Barbeque.The company has always offered health insurance to full-time employees, but it still has to wait for the new guidelines. “If it’s not on your mind, then you aren’t running your business. No one knows what the rules are yet, and we don’t know what will be required.”

Diners also are living with uncertainty about the economy, and that makes them less likely to splurge on restaurant meals, Malir said. As a result, “We’re not going to do anything that is not a guaranteed slam-dunk (in 2013), because the risk and uncertainty is more than it has been. We’re not pulling back, but we’re not running recklessly.”

The sentiment at Rusty Bucket is the same. “It’s extremely difficult to plan, because the health-care policy isn’t written yet,” said Gary Callicoat, president of the company. “Not knowing what the rules are is the hard part.” Overall, though, he is cautiously optimistic. “We’re not sure yet what 2013 holds, but we still plan to open three restaurants and remodel three other ones. We’re going ahead with the plan.”

Jimmy Corrova, owner of TAT Ristorante di Famiglia, has seen more than 60 years of ups and downs in the restaurant business. In recent months, “people have been happier to go out to eat and are spending a little more money on things than in 2008,” he said. “People still order water instead of a drink, but they’re starting to loosen up.”

By the end of January, restaurant owners should have a better sense of how the year is going to go, Corrova said. His biggest concern is the rising cost of produce and meat.

Commodity prices are set to rise again in 2013. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates prices of produce and meat will climb 3 to 4 percent, on average. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s not a cost that restaurants can easily pass on to price-conscious diners. “We try not to raise prices, because we’re a family restaurant,” Corrova said. “We’ll absorb (the increases) for the first half of the year, then we might have to bump up some items.”

Rich Rores sees the uncertainty and tough times the industry has experienced since 2008 as a wake-up call. Restaurant owners “need to start educating their teams on how to live in the new economy,” said Rores, owner of Bel Lago and Sandman Gourmet. The industry “is not going to go back to the way it was. The cost of goods is up, and it’s hard to ask customers to pay more, so we now have to design concepts that work in that environment.”